Method and apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material



June 15, 1943. A. LODGE 2,321,757

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CRIMPING TEXTILE FIBROUS MATERIAL Filed July 22, 1941 P L I A INV ENT OR.

BY .ALV/N LODGE Mafia/1 ATIURNE mismana is, 1943.

This invention relates to the crimping for similar distorting of textile fibrous materials in the form of filaments, yarn, or tow.

It is an object of the invention to provide a novel method of crimpingyarn and the like in' accordan'cewith whichzthe yarn is disposed in circular or helical loops or windings, each such windingbeing caused, to form a winding. of gradsetting means to the windings of crimped yarn and the like before it is withdrawn from the generally circular or helical windings thereof. A further object of the invention is to devise a suitable form of apparatus to perform the method just described.

Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the description and the drawing herewith. P

In the drawing, illustrative of g the invention, 1 Figure 1 is an elevational view of the apparatus for crimping yarn and the like,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on lines 11-11 of Figure 1, and

, Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the lines IIIIII of Figure 1. 1 I

The method of this invention is a modification of the methods disclosed in my prior applications Serial No. 398,014, filed June 14, 1941, now U. S. Patent Number 2,300,791, and .Serial No. 399,439, filed June 24, 1941. In general, the method consists in forming the yarn or the like into windings or convolutions of a tapered helix and causing the yarn to enter the tapered helical winding at its largest diameter and forcing the thus formed helical convolution of large diameter into helical convolutions of approximately circular shape of gradually decreasing mean diameter or effective overall diameter while allowing and causing any excess length of the yarn or the like to flex inwardly of the winding at numerous substantially equidistantly spaced arcs around those convolutions having smaller diameter. The invention also contemplates a preliminary application of a softening agent to the yarn before it is formed into the tapered hel-i antihistamine, Viscose Corporatiomw notation of Delawareblew. at the time watchman ate the hell f the drum or the disc or both may be fixed to the "Application-July :2, 1 a 3.5271,: J I n!- (Cl-52bi a cal windings. -While various forms of apparatus. may be employed as carryout themethod.

the apparatus "shown in the drawing will be described as one embodiment suitable for performing themethod.

As shown in the'drawing. the uncrlmped yarn 2,is fed to the exterior surface of a' cage-like U drum 3' having a conical shape and provided with suitable bearing Portions l and 5 and the bars 6 which are separated by the slots 1 which communicate with the hollow interior of the tapered cage-like drum. A rotatable disc 8 having a generally conical surface 8 is pressed .to-

wards the drum 3. The conical portion 9 of the disc' 8 is made of a s'uitable resilient material, such as rubber, synthetic rubber, etc.- Either shafts, III or II respectively, either or both of which may be positively driven. Preferably, however, the cone-faced disc is allowed to idle while the cage-like'drum is positively driven at any desired speed. In Figures 2 and 3 the offset arrangement of the axis of the cage-like drum with respect to the axis of rotation of the disc is clearly shown. By virtue of this offset arrangement, the rotation of drum 3 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 3 causes the several windings of yarn upon the cage-like drum to be forced downwardly, that is, toward the end of the cage-like drum having smaller diameter.

The drum is provided with a hood i2 within which the shaft III is free to rotate, and the hood I! is provided with a discharge pipe l3 connected to a suitable exhaust fan or pump. By this means, air is drawn through the helical winding thereby acting in a manner to hold the winding against the drum and at. the same time to bend and crimp the excess length portions of the' yarn in the windings so that they extend between the several bars ii In addition, when a softening medium is present in-the yarn, the

an drawn through the windings thereof upon ical windings and the setting of the vcurline'ss or' crimpiness in the yarn as it approaches "its max-- imum extent in the smaller windings of thehelix by causing the removal of the softenin the drum removes-the softening medium progressively as the yarn proceeds from the largest diameter to the smallest diameter portion of the drum. If desired, any other gaseous hardening medium or a stream of heated air may be'directed toward the drum 3 in sucha way that it may be drawn through the yard by the fan or pump. I d While the: bars 6 are-shown inthe drawing to have a tapered form, that isthey gradually narrow from the larger end to the smaller end of the drum, such form is not essential and they may have constant thickness throughout their lengths. While the resilient presser member 9 has been shown as a cone, 9. fiat surfaced disc may be substituted, its axis of rotation being tilted so that the resilient surface passes substantially tangentially of the drum 3.

In operation, the yarn is fed upon the upper and larger end of the cage-like drum which is driven in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 3, and as the yarn is pressed by the resil ient cone 9 against the drum 3, it is forced downwardly by virtue of the tendency of the resilient cone to continue to engage the yarn at that point of its surface where the yarn first makes substantial contact. Because of the offset arrangement of the axis of rotation of the cage-like drum with respect to that of the re-. silient cone, the tendency of each of the windings upon the drum i to be forced downwardly toward the smaller end thereof, this tendency being exerted upon every portion of the windings as it makes contact with the resilient cone upon each revolution of the drum. The sucking of the air through the windings tends to form crimps and bends therein and to direct them between the slots as the circumferential length of each winding progressively diminishes. This crimping becomes more extensive as the windings approach the smaller 'end of the drum. At the same time, the crimping is set more and more as the windings approach the smaller end by virtue of the repeated pressing of the windings throughout their peripheries against the resilient cone and also by virtue of the fact that any softening agent or plasticizer is gradually removed by the air drawn through the winding upon the cage-like drum. The crimped winding 2a as it is withdrawn from the drum may proceed to any suitable winding device or to a staple cutter if desired.

The yarn or the like to be crimped may be in a dried unmodified form or it may be softened. Any suitable softening mean may be applied to the yarn. For example, the yarn may be passed i may be made of any suitable natural or artificially produced fibrous material, such as cotton, wool, regenerated cellulose, cellulose acetate, etc. Likewise, it may be in the form of continuous or discontinuous filaments and it maybe ofanydenier. v

In the claims, the expression textile fibrous material" is intended generically to include the various forms of the filaments contemplated by the invention, examples of which are indicated in the preceding paragraph. This expression is further intended to exclude woven fabrics, the invention contemplating such fibrous materials as tow, yarn, individual continuous filaments, or a bundle of continuous filaments whether twisted or untwisted, etc., such as are'suitable for subsequent manufacture into textile fabrics.

While preferred embodiments of the invention What I claim is:

1. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of distributing the material generally in configuration of a tapered helix, applying pressureagainst said material successively at a plurality of spaced portions of the convolutions in the helix and reducing the mean diameter of each convolution of the material in said helix by progressively forcing said convolutions into the space occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto whereby the circumferential crowding of said material causes distortion thereof and forcing the material intermediate said portions to bend inwardly of said winding.

2. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of distributing the material generally in a configuration of a tapered helix, applying pressure against said material at equidistantly spaced portions of the convolutions thereof in said helix, reducing the mean diameter of each convolution of the material in said helix by progressively forcing said convolutions into the space occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto and simultaneously applying fiuid pressure against said helical windings to cause bending of the portions of the convolutions thereof intermediate the first-mentioned portions.

3. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of continuously distributing the material generally in the configuration of a tapered helix, applying pressure against said material at numerous equidistantly spaced portions of the convolutions of said helix and causing said pressure to progressively force said convolutions into the space occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto whereby the longitudinal crowding of said material causes distortion thereof and applying gaseous pressure externally of said windings to cause distortion and bending of the material between the first-mentioned portions of said windings to occur inwardly of said helix.. r

4. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of continuously softening said material and of continuously distributing the material generally in a configuration of a tapered helix, applying pressure against said material at approximately equidistantly spaced portions of the windings thereof in said helix and causing said pressure to progressively force said convolutions into the space occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto whereby the longitudinal crowding of said material causes distortion thereof, and applying under pressure a heated gaseous medium externally of said winding to cause bending or distortion therein between the first-mentioned portions of the peripheries of said convolutions to be directed inwardly of said helix and to cause evaporation of said softening means from said material.

5. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, means for winding atextile fibrous material into the general form of ,a tapered helix, said means [having an apicad'ribbed winding surface, means for pressing saidwinding upon its external surface with a forcetending to slide a portion of each of the convolutionsof said have been disclosed, the description is intended to be illustrative only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

winding toward the smaller end of the tapered for forcing excess length of the material in the convolutions of smaller diameter inwardly of the winding.

6. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, a rotatable drum member having an apicad slotted surface of the general shape of a cone, a rotatable resilient member, said members being arranged in near driving relationship to form a nip therebetween, said resilient member being arranged with its axis of rotation offset with respect to the axis of rotation of said drum so that such axes are neither parallel nor intersecting, and means for driving at least one of said members.

'1. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, a rotatable drum member having an apicad slotted surface of the general shape of a cone, a rotatable resilient member of the general shape of a cone, said members being arranged in near driving relationship to form a nip between their surfaces, said resilient member being further arranged with its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the drum but in non-intersecting relationship to the axis of the drum, and means for driving at least one of said members.

8. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, -a hollow drum having an apicad slotted conical surface, a rotatable cone having a surface of resilient material arranged in near driving relationship to said drum to form a nip between their surfaces, the cone being arranged with its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of the drum but in non-intersecting relationship to the axis of the drum, and means for rotating said drum about its axis.

9. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, a rotatable hollow drum having an apicad slotted conical surface, a rotatable cone having a resilient surface, said drum and cone being arranged to form a nip between their inclined surfaces, said cone being arranged with its axis in a plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of thedrum but in non-intersecting relationship to the axis of the drum, means for rotating said drum and means whereby the pressure within the interior of said hollow drum may be reduced.

10. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of distributing the material into a tapered winding without twisting it, applying pressure against said material at a plurality of spaced portions of the convolutions of said winding, forcing the material intermediate said portions to bend inwardly of said winding, and progressively forcing said convolutions into the spaces occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto.

11. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of distributing the material into a tapered single-layer winding, applying pressure against said material at a plurality of plying pressure against said material in succession at a plurality of spaced portions of the convolutions thereof, reducing the mean diameter of each convolution of the material in said helix by progressively forcing said convolutions into the spaces occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto and applying fluid pressure against said helical winding to cause bending of the portions of the convolutions thereof intermediate/the first-mentioned portions.

13. In a method of crimping textile fibrous material, the steps of softening said material, continuously distributing the material in the general configuration of a tapered helix, applying pressure against said material in succession at a plurality ofspaced portions of the convolutions thereof in said helix and causing said pressure to progressively force said convolutions into the space previously occupied by each smaller convolution adjacent thereto, and applying a heated gaseous medium externally of said winding to cause any bending or distortion therein between the first-mentioned portions of said convolutions to be directed inwardly of said helix and to cause evaporation of said-softening means from said material.

14. In an apparatus for crimping textile fibrous material, a rotatable drum member having an apicad slotted surface of the general shape of a cone, a rotatable resilient member, said members being arranged in near driving relationship to form a nip between their surfaces, said resilient member being arranged with its axis of rotation offset with respect to the axis of rotation of said drum so that such axes are neither parallel nor intersecting but arranged to cause the convolutions of the material about the rotatable drum member to be forced toward the smaller end of the cone upon rotation thereof, means for driving at least one of said members and means arranged to cause pressure to be applied to the exterior of the convolutions.

ALVIN LODGE. 

